Data security is becoming an increasingly important issue. News reports frequently discuss the latest data leaks involving corporate or customer data. Sometimes these leaks result from a breakdown in network security, where a maleficent actor defeats existing security and is able to extract data from computers during their normal operation. Other times, the data is stored on a laptop computer that is lost or stolen. A third cause of data security breaches comes when a computer has failed or is being sold to a third party and proper care was not taken to remove all of the confidential data found on the hard disk before the computer was discarded.
While the first two causes of data security breaches have received a great deal of attention, the third cause may actually be more common. In response, many companies turn to software utilities to remove data from a hard drive before disposing of the computer. Other companies, however, insist on a higher level of security and therefore require the replacement of all hard disks in any computer that is to be sold to a third party. Where the computer is outdated or malfunctioning, the company will sell the computer for parts or simply recycle or throw away the computer. In this case, these companies will remove the hard drives containing the confidential data from the computer before disposal.
As a result, many companies and individuals are developing an undesired collection of obsolete hard drives. These drives contain, or once contained, confidential data, and therefore cannot be trusted to third parties for disposal. A need has therefore developed to destroy these drives in such a way that no data can be recovered from them. Known prior art techniques involve shredding the entire drive in a large, commercial grade shredder, re-magnetization of the drive with a large, commercial grade magnet, or crushing the drive in an electrically operated crushing machine. However, these techniques require a large capital expenditure in equipment, specialized training for operation, and often involve significant risks of injury to improperly trained operators. While the use of a magnet to remove data from a disk involves less risk of injury, many experts caution against this technique due to the difficulty in ensuring that all of the data is removed.